Our South Sudanese National Trainer David Acellam is scheduled to provide a week of professional development training for teachers at the U.N. Refugee camp in Juba, South Sudan. The course will run from 25-30 April. The United Nations Mission of South Sudan houses thousands of South Sudanese refugees who have fled their homes due to civil unrest. David will provide training in teaching academics more effectively and from the perspective of the Gospel, providing hope for both the present and eternity.

I love this: we are bringing new tools and hope to a people who have been subject to the most monstrous assaults of this world. May the Lord prosper David’s work!

— Dr. William Price, Co-founder & Board Member

The Lord has provided a wonderful opportunity for David to impact the lives of children who have lost so much through enabling their teachers to serve them better. Please join us in praying for him!

Here are a few photos of Tirrim Schools participating in outreach over their Easter break. "Time well spent!" says Pastor David Gargule.

The students and are now on break for April before the start of next term. Please continue praying for the students and the teachers. And would you pray also that more sponsors would join in supporting the Tirrim Schools?

A side road inside the district capital, Bundibugyo. Bundibugyo District ,Western Uganda

We have received troubling news from one of Dr. Price's WTS students regarding violent uprisings in Western Uganda following the national elections. Your prayers are needed. The work of the Foundation, through the multiplicative effect of training teachers, administrators, and pastors, reaches into the distant corners of East Africa (in fact, the affected area is not far from the 2014 trainings we did in Kasese) so to hear of unrest such as this is always concerning. Here are a few words from Rev. Jonathan to inform you of the situation and help direct your prayers:

I am writing requesting prayers for the suffering people, especially children and women who have been so much affected by the insurgence and the ethnic killings of the Bakonzo and Bamba in Bundibujgyo district after the national elections. Ten people have been butchered, about 120,000 people displaced, many houses and plantation burnt and destroyed to ashes. At our headquarter Church we have 300 people sleeping in Church with no other place to run to for shelter. Many of them are children and women.

I have been transferred for ministry overseeing 144 Churches with 170 pastors under our see. Many of our Christians have been affected as well as 10 pastors’ houses have been burnt by thugs. Many schools have not opened because of the killings.

I therefore, write to request for your prayers especially for the now suffering children and women who cannot find anything to eat but depend now on the mercies of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bundibugyo is a district behind the mountains of Rwenzori region in the western Uganda, bordering the Democratic of Congo.

May you please pray for peace.

I have been in meetings with the government officials about the same, security is provided but nothing best is done yet. I yesterday visited with the team members to the King of Bwamba (Bundibugyo) with less hopes for peace. I with other Bishops/ Pastors from Rwenzori region will tomorrow engage dialogue with many stake holder in the district about the same.

The streets filled, shops closed, and the church building overflowed with Rendille gathering to celebrate God's doing among them through Tirrim Schools.

The celebration lasted the entire day and was filled with laughter, ceremonial and sacred songs, presentations by the Tirrim School classes, and the serving of traditional Rendille food.

The children sung their hearts out and parents join them and tears of joy were shed as people were reminded of who they are. An old man run to the stage and join the kids in singing. The leadership appreciated the Tirrim administration for organizing such events and to keep the Rendille culture alive and to connect them with the culture which is about to be eroded by modernization. Our County representative who is a Muslim said this “Tirrim which means a cornerstone have become our pillar today for not forgetting our culture, am proud to associate myself with them and I will be always in front to see how i can help”

— Pastor David Gargule

A huge "Thank You!" to all our partners whose donations help keep the Tirrim Schools open. The Lord is indeed doing great work among the Rendille people!

Term 3 at the Tirrim Schools was held during the months of September, October, and November. Below is the report for the final term of the year, compiled by Pastor David Gargule. As always, we thank sponsors for their donations, which enable the school to continue operating.

This term we had several activities going on.

1. As I informed you in one of my writings we had cultural day which was so much connected us with our local people who come in great numbers to celebrate our unique culture and had our identity as people of Rendille.

2. The schools are closed now and kids are on holiday. We thanks God there was no any bad incident was mentioned despite of usual challenges that help us to grow.

3. The drought is tough though we got rains for two days. We need to pray for the situation here.

4. The truck we use to transport food and water for the nomadic school is not in good condition. It needs a new tyres, some repairs and inspection for it to serve the school well next year. Please consider pray with us.

5. We had a parent day in nomadic school and the parents come and celebrated the achievement of their school. During the cultural day the nomadic school were the best performers.

5. It is our prayers that next year we would have a functional nursery school in nomadic since this is the feeder of the school and without it we wonder what we can do in future.

The Lord has enabled us to see another end of the year schooling and most of grade 3 in nomadic will graduate to the Tirrim upper school. Pray for safe and good transition.

Welcome to our new website! We recognize that talking about what we do can be challenging so we've attempted to streamline content for a clearer message and allow easier access to information about our projects.

Below is the Tirrim School Report for Term 2, written by Headmaster Lawrence Letipo. These reports are a new method of keeping you updated on the Tirrim Schools. Individual child reports are simply not feasible but the Tirrim leadership will be sending these school reports to us at the close of every term. We are so grateful for their hard work and thankful, too, for the generous sponsors! Make sure not to miss the prayer requests listed toward the bottom of the report.

We are doing very well! The Lord was good despite all the challenges over the last term. Korr is still dry, hot and dusty with cold nights. This is normal in July to the end of August. We are already in August vacation which started from 7th August - 7th September when the term 3 begins. Last term was a hard one, most of our teachers left us due to the salary delay. Nomadic school had reduced from 8 teachers to 5. We had already moved the lower school to the upper ground. We thank God for the wisdom and we are running the institution with ease. We are now left with manageable teaching staff for all of our schools totaling to 21 from 33 previous population.

THINGS THAT WENT WELL-Excellent solar power installation by the Kenyan government for std 1 pupils-Good cooperation from the parents.-Pupils who are eager to learn the word of God during bible classes and the morning devotions.-Successful talent fellowship at the church organized by the Tirrim teachers

ATTENDANCE/ABSENTEEISMAlthough we recorded some cases of absenteeism, the general attendance was good. The total number of students is 655 of which 301 are girls and 354 are boys respectively

The term recorded more cases of malaria.The school kids are doing good. This term’s results are really promising especially for Class 3. I think both teachers and the kids are really doing a perfect job towards their work. High discipline was observed despite much illness and a high rate of absenteeism within the course of the term was observed. I think this was due to much troubles which are being caused by the drought.

ASSESSMENTSThe general performance of the students in the just ended term two assessment is good. There has been an improvement in the results compared to term one.

I have requested each teacher to submit a list of students who are not able to read in respective grades and challenge them to help those identified.

I will find time to assess them personally and suggest how best we can help them read and write with ease.

IMMEDIATE REQUIREMENT AND PRAYER NEEDS- Pray for dedicated true Christian teachers- Pray for regular salaries for our teachers- The school needs learning materials which are scarce now- Pray for the wisdom in the leadership and transition process- Pray for our candidates ( std 8 ) education trip to down Kenya where they can learn things practically.

CALENDAR - School closed on Wednesday, 5th of August and will re-open on Monday, 7th of September, 2015.

Thanks for all the continued support, spiritually, materially and financially.

What a great group of teachers! We finished up the last day of the first session of Teacher Professional Development in the Kibera slum. The teachers will spend the next months working on implementing the things they have learned. They'll meet in cohorts every 3 weeks to discuss their progress, and to get encouragement and ideas from each other. They will send me a report of the cohort meetings with date, time, and attendance. It is part of a long process which makes the one week of input from me actually valuable, because it ensures that they keep practicing and using what they have learned, and don't just set it aside because it is difficult to change.

The Nairobi Council Education Officer visited our training today! I always ask the local organizers to be in touch with the local Ministry of Education (if they were not the ones requesting) so that the education officials know what is going on and are supportive rather than suspicious. If they support the training, then the certificates the teachers or administrators get mean much more. I had expected that the Kibera District Education Officer would be the one to come. But the Nairobi Council is the biggest in Kenya, and this was a very important man. He quizzed me pretty thoroughly, and ended up pleased with the work. We asked if he would come speak to the teachers, and he agreed to do so. He said often teachers say, "I am just a teacher," when asked what they do. So, he told a great little story to encourage the teachers to feel good about their work, even though they are not working in prestigious situations.

"You know, there are many persons here in Nairobi who own many buildings. There are other persons who own matatus, maybe lorries, and others who own buses. But the Lord God said, 'Let us make man in our own image.' And, I think that is what He expects of us, too. When those men die and God asks them what they made, there will be many matatus, or lorries, or buildings in line behind them. And God will say, "Is this like you? Do you want me to make you a truck, or a building?" But you, you will have many children behind you. Because what a teacher makes is in his own image. So, God will be pleased."

"When the student is fully trained, he will be like his teacher." Luke 6:40. Which is why this ministry of providing professional development for Christian school teachers is so impactful.

At the nomadic school this morning we listened to the children singing praises, sat under a bush tree to drink chai with the Rendille cooking lunch, and observed the closing of term. (The school had to close early due to lack of food so we were all the more glad to catch them on their final day before letting out for break.) Nancy also had the opportunity to address the teachers and then later the students as well.

Nancy encouraging the students to value their education, work hard, and look to their teachers as mentors.

Unfortunately, we've learned that the schools are struggling financially. The missionaries who lived here in Korr for more than thirty years have just retired and, as they used a portion of their private funds to support the school, their retirement has had significant financial impact. Several of the nurseries (kindergarten) have closed and the leadership has just made the difficult decision to begin charging fees for the high school which will likely result in it's closing as well.

But there are still many wonderful things happening here! The students are studying diligently, the girl to boy ratio remains nearly even, the teachers are committed as ever to seeing their students offered a valuable Christ-centered education, and the student's parents have begun to contribute as well. The school leadership began charging a very small fee to help cover meal costs for the students. We are very excited about this because it helps parents to take responsibility for their children's education in a manageable way.

Enjoying a cup of chai.

Ultimately the deep desire of the school leadership is that the Tirrim Schools become largely self sustaining. The generous donations of our sponsors help to provide a part of the school's budget and, while we hope that our contribution can grow and that the Foundation can continue to provide the much needed extra boost, we are not the be all, end all. Nancy an I spent hours in conversation this afternoon with Pastor David Gargule and the Tirrim Schools Headmaster, Lawrence Letipo brainstorming ways to help the school become self-sustaining. What an encouraging conversation! We are so impressed with the men who are leading these schools and look forward to continuing our partnership with them.

Nancy is standing here next to Marta- the only female teacher at the school. Imagine what a role model and confidant she is to the young girls!

The nomadic Rendille tribe of Northern Kenya sustain themselves in this harsh environment through livestock- moving their herds several times a year based on the rains. The nomadic school was strategically placed in the center of their lands so that it is always accessible for the Rendille students. It is part of the Tirrim Schools (five schools here in Korr), the only schools left in Northern Kenya that are still Christian. Let that sink in. The only Christian schools in Northern Kenya. And yet, because of the commitment of the school leadership the Tirrim Schools continue to have a positive spiritual and academic impact on over half of the Rendille tribe’s students. Praise the Lord!

But they still need our help. If you know anyone who would be willing to participate in the Tirrim Schools sponsorship program please share with them. And keep an eye out- if we have the opportunity to provide seed funding for a self-sustainability project we'll be letting you know.